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Hi TLS friends, I'm more of a lurker looking to tap the collective wisdom around these parts. I'm clerking at a district court and currently deciding whether to go the biglaw route or join the DOJ. I've been ruminating the big questions, like location, $$$, practice area and quality of life, and I think I'm leaning toward DOJ. I didn't find a terribly current thread on this topic, and the older ones all skew government because government hiring was so tight and fickle in 09-13. So how about ITE? DOJ or Biglaw? What other things should I be considering in this decision?

Anonymous User wrote:Hi TLS friends, I'm more of a lurker looking to tap the collective wisdom around these parts. I'm clerking at a district court and currently deciding whether to go the biglaw route or join the DOJ. I've been ruminating the big questions, like location, $$$, practice area and quality of life, and I think I'm leaning toward DOJ. I didn't find a terribly current thread on this topic, and the older ones all skew government because government hiring was so tight and fickle in 09-13. So how about ITE? DOJ or Biglaw? What other things should I be considering in this decision?

The specific firm and your preference on location will matter. Furthermore, the kind of practice area you want matters. This is a pretty specific inquiry, and it's apples and oranges. Hard to judge on such vague facts.

It seems like this is an extremely basic question of whether you want to be a transactional lawyer or a litigator. We can't answer that for you.

Many people in biglaw would love to leave biglaw for the DOJ job you're talking about. That said, if you went straight to the DOJ, you'd miss out on the benefits of a few years of biglaw (namely, money).

I'd say if your aspiration is law firm partner, do biglaw and profit (or at least try to). If not, snap up the DOJ job now if you have the opportunity.